Police are yet to finish investigations into a double murder in Chittagong even two years after the incident following a clash between two fronts of the ruling party over a railway tender bid.
Published : 24 Jun 2015, 07:27 PM
Even the transfer of the case from the Kotowali Police Station to the city Detective Branch (DB) has not helped.
Several police officers in private blame ‘political pressure’ for the delay.
Officers privy to the investigation said a chargesheet was being prepared but were unable to say when it would be submitted.
On June 24, 2013, Bangladesh Juba League (BJL) and Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) had clashed in the port city’s CRB area over a railway tender bid.
A local boy, Arman Hossain, 8, and BJL activist Saju Palit were killed in the incident.
Police filed a case against 87 people, including BJL leader Helal Akbar Chowdhury and BCL leader Saiful Alam Limon.
Some 59 people were detained after the incident.
In a few months, most of them were out on bail.
Ajit Biswas, who was reportedly seen firing shots from a pistol, has not been arrested so far.
Both Saju Palit and Ajit Biswas were close aides of BJL leader ‘Babar’.
The witnesses said the clash had broken out after an altercation between Biswas and Limon.
After the incident, police said those involved were all supporters of Limon and Babar.
The two murder cases are being investigated together in accordance with a court order.
Initially, Kotowali SI Md Kamruzzaman had investigated the cases, which are now under DB Inspector Jahedul Islam.
“Investigation into the case is in the same stage where it was,” Islam told bdnews24.com.
“The investigation will resume soon after we finish reviewing the case documents.”
He said all the suspects were now out on bail.
However, a number of police officers toldbdnews24.com the probe made no progress because all the suspects were supporters of the city’s two most influential political figures - Awami League’s city unit President ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury and General Secretary AJM Nasir Uddin, also the city mayor.